The present invention relates to a sheet working system for performing sheet metal working on a workpiece by means of a sheet metal working machine.
Conventionally, a laser working system 101 as a sheet metal working system includes, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a housing rack 105, which has a plurality of shelves 103, for housing pallets P on which workpieces W are placed in a vertical direction. An elevator 107 for taking the pallets P in/out of the shelves 103 and moving up/down the pallets P, is provided on a side of the housing rack 105 (on the left side in FIGS. 1 and 2).
A workpiece separator apparatus 109 is arranged so as to be adjacent to the housing rack 105, and a laser working machine 111 and a plurality of carry-out/piling apparatuses 113 are arranged in this order on a right side of the workpiece separator apparatus 109 in FIGS. 1 and 2. Furthermore, a guide rail 117 for moving the workpiece separator apparatus 109 and a carry-out unloader 115 in a horizontal direction in FIG. 1 and in a vertical direction in FIG. 2 is provided.
According to the above structure, a pallet P selected from the pallets P housed on the plural shelves 103 of the housing rack 105 is pulled out into the elevator 107. Next, the elevator 107 is lowered so as to be stopped in a bottom shelf of the housing rack 105. The pallet P on which the workpieces W are placed is transferred from the elevator 107 stopped in the bottom shelf of the housing rack 105 onto a pallet table 119 which is capable of moving up/down. The pallet table 119 is provided below the workpiece separator apparatus 109.
When an upper-most workpiece W on the pallet P on the pallet table 119 is taken by the workpiece separator apparatus 109, the workpiece separator apparatus 109 is guided along the guide rail 117 so as to be transported to the laser working machine 111, and the workpiece W is transferred onto a working table of the laser working machine 111. Then, the workpiece W is laser-worked by the laser working machine 111. The laser-worked workpiece W is transported above a piling table 121 by the carry-out unloader 115 so as to be carried out onto the collecting table 121.
In the above-mentioned conventional laser working system 101, since a portion which is represented by slanted lines in FIG. 2 is a useless space. Furthermore, since the carry-in/out apparatuses 119 and 113 are located on the right and left sides of the laser working machine 111 in FIGS. 1 and 2, there arises a problem such that operability is not satisfactory when a number of lots is small and when a workpiece W is carried in/out by an operator without the carry-in/out apparatuses 119 and 113 (off-line operation).
It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet working system which reduces an installation space and improves operability at the time of off-line operation.
In order to achieve the above object, a sheet working system according to the present invention comprises: a housing rack provided with a plurality of shelves in its vertical direction for housing pallets on which workpieces are placed; a pallet transport means provided on a side of the housing rack, the pallet transport means being capable of moving up/down, the pallet transport means having a traverser for putting the pallets into/out of the housing rack; a pallet. holding means located on a bottom shelf of the housing rack, the pallet holding means temporarily holding a pallet transported by the pallet transport means; a workpiece separator means located above the pallet holding means, the workpiece separator means taking a single workpiece; a workpiece table means located adjacently to the housing rack, the workpiece table means being capable of moving, the workpiece table means temporarily placing the single workpiece taken by the workpiece separator means; a sheet working machine and a workpiece piling means arranged so as to sandwich the workpiece table means; and an loading/unloading means being capable of moving among the workpiece table means, the sheet working machine and the workpiece piling means.
Therefore, the pallets on which the workpieces are placed are housed on the plurality of shelves of the housing rack. After the pallet which is selected from the pallets on the plurality of shelves is pulled out by the traverser provided to the pallet transporting means, the pallet transport means is lowered so that the pallet is transported into the bottom of the housing rack. The transported pallet is temporarily held by the pallet holding means provided on the bottom shelf of the housing rack.
In the state that an upper-most workpiece of the workpieces on the pallet temporarily held by the pallet holding means is lifted up by the workpiece separator means, the workpiece table means is moved from the side of the housing rack to a position below the workpiece separator means so as to be stopped. After the workpiece is unloaded from the workpiece separator means and placed onto the workpiece table means, the workpiece table means is moved to the side of the housing rack.
In this state, the workpiece on the workpiece table means is held by the loading/unloading means which waits in the side position of the pallet transport means, and the loading/unloading means is moved to the sheet working machine, then the workpiece is placed onto a specified position of the sheet working machine so that desired sheet working is performed on the workpiece by the sheet working machine. The workpiece which was worked by the sheet working machine is carried out to the workpiece piling means by the loading/unloading means so that the worked workpiece is piled thereon.
Therefore, an installation space is reduced and operability at the time of off-line operation is improved.